The weather here for the last week has been absolutely gorgeous. I met a friend for lunch outside on the Mall twice, I eschewed jackets on my walks to the Metro, and most importantly, we had our fence replaced, and they actually showed up on the appointed day to do it, and finished it that same day!

Now, I don't want to turn this blog into Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, but when Josh and I moved into our home, the (teeny tiny) backyard consisted of 2 overgrown, half-dead azalea bushes, a rusted out shed, and a lot of mosquitoes (owing to the fantastic drainage of that mess), hemmed in by a dilapidated pile of a wooden boards that may, at one time or other, have been a fence. I really should've taken "before" pictures to capture this paradise, but it didn't occur to me that I'd want a lasting memory of it. Anyway, I'm sure you can use your imagination.

But, here it is today!

Lovely new fence with fully-functioning gate AND latch (and Nelly happily exploring):Corner where we removed ugly, half-dead cyprus evergreen and will plant a lilac bush (love lilacs!):My little, technically verboten garden plot; I'll have some tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, and basil here at least:And the bleeding heart I planted last year that actually came back! Here's a little fun fact about me: I kill plants. But not this one! (Note the teeny bleeding heart on the left; it was a full-grown plant of similar size last year):It's so nice to have a little outdoor space to enjoy, however small.

Now, on to the knitting. Nothing finished, but 2 WIPs:Cast on for Saartje's Bootees, and these are a super-quick knit (obviously, give that they're the size of my index finger). This is the first bootee, which needs seaming, and I've already started the second. I found the instructions for doing the second strap a little confusing, but after a few false starts, I figured it out. It's nice to be knitting something so small--even if you have to frog the entire thing (which I did on the second bootee when I got distracted by the Os game and lost count of my stitches), it's just a few rows undone and a few minutes wasted. Now I'm trying to decide if I should give these to Susi on their own, or wait until I have a her complete knitted package, as it were, done.

And almost done the lace part of the Lotus Blossom Tank:Since I didn't plan ahead and buy enough yarn, my thinking is, if I can't get the same dye lot, I'll switch to the new lot for the top part; with a definitive break in between the two sections, a color difference would probably be less noticeable at that point. We'll see.